Why Is It So Hard to Get Mentoring Right?

June 6, 2017

by Firsthand Staff

This week we look at why companies struggle to master mentoring programs, at what the benefits of tough love with mentors are, and at what relationship there is between video games and unemployment rates.

Why Can’t Companies Get Mentorship Programs Right?
THE ATLANTICMentoring can help companies return $1.50 for every $1 they spend on an employee. That’s why so many companies are investing in them. Many companies are using mentoring programs like band-aids in an attempt to address changes in the American workplace. They have failed to adjust to decreased corporate loyalty among employees, among other challenges. If there is sufficient buy-in, and if there is a formal structure set up so that the mentee is given not only career development training but access to the older employee’s deep well of institutional knowledge, then all parties report increased satisfaction in their programs. Read Article»

Why Being a Mentor Isn’t Actually About What You Think
IncWhat makes mentoring work? To be a true mentor, you must deploy empathy and humility and realize it’s about the mentee. To be a useful mentor, you have to be able to advise with a genuine desire to help the other person. Managing might feel close to mentoring, but there is a nuance. When you are in manager’s mode, you have a team working for you; when you are in a mentor’s role, you’re working for a protégé. For this author, mentoring is about his legacy. He wants people to say that he did more than give advice, but that he actually cared about the success of those around him. That depth of caring is what makes a great mentor. Read Article»

The Tough-Love Approach to Career Guidance
THE ATLANTICGet your foot in the door. Opening up access to internships allows people to tap into the networks and mentors that can set them up for entry-level opportunities. Launched last year, Pay Our Interns, a bipartisan nonprofit, recognized the lack of advocates fighting for organizations to pay their interns, especially jobs in the public sector located in hubs like Washington, D.C. and New York. The group wants to change the privilege pipeline that often rewards young professionals from wealthy, connected backgrounds and leaves low-income, people of color out of the running for opportunities in their respective fields. Internships are a great way for people to get constructive criticism and build the workplace networks that jumpstart their careers. Read Article»

Write a Resume That Gets You Hired: 6 Common Resume Mistakes to Avoid
INCMake your resume about the job you want, not just about you. Every item you place on your resume should be about the value you deliver and how you’ve solved problems your audience is facing. You get six seconds to make an impression and you need to make that time count by giving your reader what they need, rather than feeding your ego. Read Article»

23 questions you should never ask at the end of a job interview
Business InsiderDo you have any questions for me? Almost every job interview concludes with that question. Interviewees scramble for half-baked questions, often sticking their feet in their mouth. Don’t make your interviewer think that you’re unfocused, only interested in money, or have had difficult relationships with coworkers in the past. Focusing on the positive with relevant questions can set you apart. Read Article»

The link between video games and unemployment
The EconomistHow come employment rates are going down and time spent gaming is going up? Are the two related? The share of recent college graduates working in jobs which did not require a college degree rose from just over 30% in the early 2000s to nearly 45% a decade later. And the financial crisis and recession fell harder on young people than on the population as a whole. For people unable to find demanding, full-time work (or any work at all) gaming is often a way to spend some of one’s unwanted downtime, rather than a lure out of work; it is much more a symptom of other economic ills than a cause. Read Article»

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